The Democratic Governors Association raised $71.5 million last year — a record for an off year that helped Democrats hold a seat in Kentucky and build momentum into 2024, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The overturning of Roe v. Wade and efforts to change voting laws since 2020 have put a spotlight on the importance of state leaders. Democrats have seized on the issues, and see an opportunity to get even with Republicans who have long dominated at the state-level.

"With Democratic governors serving as the last line of defense from extreme attacks on democracy and fundamental freedoms, electing more Democratic governors has never been more important," DGA executive director Meghan Meehan-Draper said in a statement.

Meehan-Draper added that the group is "on track to have our best January ever, breaking the last January record by more than 50 percent."

White House adviser John Podesta has been tapped to be the Biden administration’s top climate diplomat once John Kerry steps down from his post this spring, a person familiar with the move told POLITICO.

Podesta is currently overseeing the implementation of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats’ signature climate law. The Washington Post first reported Podesta’s new role.

Podesta will reportedly operate out of the White House rather than the State Department, where Kerry, a former Secretary of State, maintains an office. Podesta will also maintain his role overseeing the IRA rollout.

The veteran Democratic strategist has a long history in climate politics, including on the international stage. Podesta will be the U.S. face at the COP29 negotiations later this year in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced it raised $12.3 million in December for a total of $28 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, POLITICO has learned.

The campaign arm highlighted that December total for House Democrats is $5 million more than the NRCC raised in the same month.

Notably the DCCC also raised $1.3 million more in member dues in 2023 than 2021, with a 13 percent increase in participation rate among members in dues for 2023 compared to 2021. Democrats have pushed lawmakers to pay their dues to the campaign arm as they try to flip control of the House.

“I am grateful for the leadership of Hakeem Jeffries and the entire House Democratic Caucus who have helped ensure that the DCCC will have the resources it needs to take back the majority to defend reproductive rights, stop extremism in its tracks, and help grow the middle class,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement.

The gender gap is growing between supporters of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters.

And that’s good news for the Democratic incumbent: Biden holds a slight lead over Trump in Wednesday’s 2024 presidential election poll, 50 percent to 44 percent. The same matchup was “too close to call” just a month ago.

More women said they would support Biden over Trump in this latest survey, with 58 percent backing Biden and 36 percent backing Trump. Last month, the Quinnipiac poll found 53 percent of women supported the incumbent Democrat, compared to 41 percent for the Republican challenger.

The numbers were relatively unchanged for men — 53 percent of men said they’d vote for Trump and 42 percent chose Biden in the latest poll, compared to 51 percent for Biden and 41 percent for Trump in December.

The Messenger is shutting down less than a year after the fledgling media company opened its doors with ambitions of building a leading news brand.

In a statement to staff Wednesday afternoon, founder Jimmy Finkelstein wrote that the company would close, “effective immediately,” due to insurmountable financial difficulties.

“Over the past few weeks, literally until earlier today, we exhausted every option available and have endeavored to raise sufficient capital to reach profitability,” Finkelstein wrote. “Unfortunately, we have been unable to do so, which is why we haven’t shared the news with you until now. This is truly the last thing I wanted, and I am deeply sorry.”

Staff at The Messenger reported that their Slack shut down mid-afternoon, before any formal communication had been issued from company leadership. Many took to social media to say that they found out they were losing their jobs only when The New York Times first reported the plans this afternoon.

Nikki Haley’s campaign manager warned influential donors Tuesday that the GOP would lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives if Donald Trump is the party’s presidential nominee, leaning into concerns about down-ballot races as some anti-Trump Republicans view the fight over Congress as a better investment than the presidential race.

Speaking to the same group behind closed doors, one of Trump’s top advisers delivered a data-heavy presentation about why Republican financiers should get on board as he barrels toward the nomination — charting out how he could win enough delegates to clinch the nomination early this spring. Susie Wiles, who gave the presentation in Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday, and other top Trump advisers have argued that Haley has no path forward and that money spent to elevate her diverts resources that could be used to beat President Biden in the general election.

The dueling presentations, which were described by people with knowledge of the remarks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private comments, reflected the starkly contrasting positions the final two Republican White House hopefuls are in after the first two nominating contests. Trump is in a commanding position and looking to further consolidate his power after a pair of dominating wins, with many party leaders seeing him as the presumptive nominee. Haley, fighting for her political survival with a path to victory that has all but closed in the eyes of many strategists, has ramped up her attacks on Trump, trying different lines of attack aimed at raising doubts about how he would fare in November. She faces long odds — even in her home state of South Carolina, where she’s now focusing.

Top advisers to Haley and Trump made their cases to members of the American Opportunity Alliance (AOA), which includes some of the GOP’s most influential donors. Last fall, the group summoned representatives of Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), then seen as Trump’s most formidable opponent, to map out their strategies and how they intended to defeat Trump. But DeSantis is out of the race, and Haley’s team is trying to convince donors they still have a path, as many Republicans rally behind Trump and turn toward the general election.

Former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, who became the first female senator to represent Missouri after she was appointed to replace her husband following his death, died Tuesday. She was 90.

Carnahan, a Democrat, was appointed to the Senate in 2001 after the posthumous election of her husband, Gov. Mel Carnahan, and she served until 2002.

“Mom passed peacefully after a long and rich life. She was a fearless trailblazer. She was brilliant, creative, compassionate and dedicated to her family and her fellow Missourians,” her family said in a statement.

Her family did not specify the cause of death but said Carnahan died after a brief illness at a hospice facility in suburban St. Louis.